Fall for the First Time
Freaking bunnies everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere. I would swear they’re being bussed in from neighboring towns. But they’re not—because I’ve been watching their active fornication all summer long. This place is littered with them. They even ate half my milkweed this year. Milkweed. That’s supposed to be toxic! What is going on?
Bunnies everywhere, and not even the healthy coyote population can seem to keep them in check. They’re having babies too, you know. I don’t get to see them as often as the bunnies, but I put a trail camera in my yard last winter and had up to three individuals visiting regularly during that really cold February spell. I even caught two of them right before “business time.” The camera literally cut out just as something was about to happen, and the next video started again right as the second coyote was walking away. It was as if someone had activated a NSFW setting on the trail cam. Not that I’m trying to make animal porn—but still, it was exciting to think my yard might be the scene of some coyote procreation. I mean, come on. They’re some cool canids!
Well, some of them were clearly successful (if undocumented), because when the West Cape May fire alarm goes off, so do they—and I can hear the unmistakable yips of the younger generation mixed with the deeper howls of their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and likely grandparents.
It’s fall now and forget what you’ve been told: fall is for the youth.
Take fall bird migration, which is an order of magnitude larger than spring migration simply because there are more birds in the system. Making it through the first year of life is a serious challenge for most animals—but for long-distance migrating birds? That’s an epic feat.
Most songbirds travel independently, meaning the young of the year are operating on pure instinct, coded into their DNA, without the help of an older generation with a road map or experience under their wings. Just some genetically imprinted bearing, and the ability to call out into the ether and hear their neighbors in the inky darkness.
Yes, inky darkness—because they do this all at night, with only the stars to guide them. Stars whose relevance is also encoded in those tiny bird brains. How crazy is that?
Of course, Cape May is not only famous for its fall migration volume, but also for the chance that some wayward species will show up here unexpectedly; and that’s commonplace in fall, when the naive are on the loose in droves. Over 430 species of bird have been recorded in Cape May, and a fair number of those are represented by single or rare occurrences thanks to the misadventures of young birds veering wildly off course.
Those who count the birds in Cape May witness the antics of these aerial rookies every day. A favorite pastime in September at the Cape May Hawkwatch, for instance, is watching young Merlins—small, high-octane falcons—taste-test Monarch Butterflies. Dragonflies? No problem—they can (and do) eat those all day long. But Monarchs pick up a toxin from the milkweed they consumed as caterpillars, and it’s not only poisonous, but it also apparently tastes terrible. An unsuspecting juvenile Merlin will often spit that thing out almost as fast as it grabbed it. I’m not sure how many Monarchs survive the initial snatch, but the sacrifice of one is likely the salvation of many. A single bad mouthful can turn a whole sky into a no-butterfly-eating zone for these little menaces.
Naiveté can be comical to witness.
But maybe my passion for fall, and this loose connection with youth, has a personal bias. My two kids, for example, are both fall babies. In one more fall, I’ll be setting one of them free to start her own life at a yet-to-be-decided university, with her sister close behind just a few years later. I only have a short time left to work out my parting words, so I better get cracking.
I don’t know if it’s all sound advice, but right now, all I’ve got is: “Chart your own path.” “Always watch out for hidden cameras.” And “even if it seems like a good idea—think twice before taking a bite.”
